The county magistrate was about to be executed by slow slicing, but a new prince arrived to uphold justice!
People banged drums and gongs and came to Jinjiazhuang shouting everywhere. Soon, people from hundreds of miles around knew about it.
But the people's first reaction was not to be moved to tears or feel grateful that someone was finally standing up for them and upholding justice.
Instead, they became afraid of the future.
“Old man, another new prince has arrived. We’ve had the Prince of Jin and the Prince of Liaodong before, and now we have the Prince of Zhongwu.”
"Alas! I fear that life will be difficult again!"
The neighbors also gathered around, and everyone huddled together, carefully discussing the matter:
"The princes come and go, but the officials remain the same. These princes are replaced every few years, and after that, another one will come. Even if one magistrate is executed, another magistrate will come. They will still protect each other. We will not have a good ending in the future."
"That's right. If we go and see Magistrate Fei now, and he's executed by slow slicing, we'll cheer and clap our hands. But in a few years, a new prince will come and drive away this Prince Zhongwu, and others will avenge Magistrate Fei. Those of us who clapped and cheered back then will all suffer in the end."
…………
Amidst the murmurs and the increasingly boisterous sounds of gongs and drums outside, the people dared not venture out, choosing instead to hide in secret. As for what would happen at the execution ground tomorrow...
That's none of their business.
After all, this had happened many times before, and the people were already terrified.
In fact, there is no solution to this kind of problem.
Whether it's Magistrate Fei, Prefect Liu, or Governor Zhou Chunxuan, why does Liu Laowu continue to govern the region with such a group of corrupt officials?
Is it really true that Liu Laowu is blind?
That's not the case.
Firstly, in the ancient world where technology was underdeveloped and productivity was very low, a book cost between 3 and 5 taels of silver.
For ordinary farmers, the entire year's harvest is not enough to eat and drink, let alone save up a few taels of silver to buy a book.
The poor simply cannot afford to go to school, let alone become officials.
Aristocratic families, gentry, and wealthy merchants had plenty of money, so their descendants could afford to study. As a result, as long as you knew a few characters, even the most unruly and ugly people could come to school.
When the families of these powerful clans and wealthy gentry spread throughout the officialdom and developed into enormous clans, they monopolized official positions and intermarried with each other. Poor students simply couldn't afford to study, while the rich formed powerful families with connections between officials and merchants.
Take Fei Zheng's family as an example. Three members of the family held official positions. Fei Zheng's wife was also the daughter of a bureaucrat. More than a dozen members of the family held official positions, and the most powerful relative held a third-rank official position in the imperial court.
If we kill Fei Zheng today, the other members of the Fei family will avenge him in the future. They will also join forces with the officials in Fei Zheng's wife's family. It will be a piece of cake for them to kill you commoners.
The people of Jinjiazhuang have experienced more than two hundred years of chaos since their ancestors. During these two hundred years, there have been more than a hundred large and small forces that have carved out Liaodong, and dozens of them have claimed the titles of king or emperor.
This king reigned for a few days before being killed by another king, who then came and killed him as well.
The princes in this Liaodong land have been changing, but the number of scholars in the country is limited. In order to govern the region, these officials are the most reliable. No matter what heinous or unforgivable things they have done, as long as they can be kept to govern the country, they will be kept.
Over the years, the people have realized that they are no match for these unchanging local bullies, so how dare they oppose them?
Liu Fu was unaware of all this at first, until the next morning when Fei Zheng was escorted to Jinjiazhuang.
Jin Wenhua, the brother-in-law, was terrified. He recognized Liu Fu at a glance. He never expected that the person he had forced to buy and sell that day was actually a prince of the current dynasty!
Jin Wenhua was so frightened that he was scared out of his wits.
But looking at the entire execution ground, Liu Fu originally expected that once the news of Fei Zheng's execution by slow slicing spread, the people would immediately rush to the execution ground to curse the corrupt official for disregarding human life, and then Fei Zheng would be executed by slow slicing amidst the people's cheers, which would be truly gratifying!
But when it came time for him to sit on the execution ground, about to be slowly sliced to death, the ground below was empty and there was no one there.
Liu Fu sighed helplessly. It took him a long time, thinking with the mindset of a modern person, to understand what these ordinary people were afraid of.
"It seems we must promote the imperial examination system. Tonight, I will write a memorial to my father and tell him that we must also open schools for free so that children can afford to study. Only by breaking the monopoly of the noble families can we give people from poor families a chance to rise above their circumstances and break this corrupt officialdom that has been entrenched for thousands of years!"
Noon arrived in the blink of an eye.
Looking around now, the execution ground was completely deserted.
"Your Highness, what do you think... should we proceed with this punishment or not?"
An official nearby then stepped forward, bowed, and said:
"Your Highness, in my opinion, today is not the time to carry out the executions. It would be better to postpone it and wait until all the people have been gathered before proceeding with the executions. This way, we can achieve a more satisfying effect and also deter the people from committing the crimes!"
"Yes, there isn't a single civilian in the execution ground right now. Even if we torture Fei Zheng to death by a thousand cuts, the civilians won't be able to see it."
Another official stepped forward to answer.
"Do we execute an official who deserves to be executed by slow slicing just so that the people can see it?"
Upon hearing the words of the accompanying official, Liu Fu was greatly displeased and said:
"All you do is put on a show for the world. Besides putting on a show, can you do anything else?"
Liu Fu angrily rebuked:
"You officials are all incompetent!"
"Why aren't the people coming to see such a gratifying event? Not a single one of them is coming!"
"Clearly, they no longer trust our government or our court. After so many years of chaos, they are afraid. But what exactly are they afraid of? Has any of you officials thought about this?"
Liu Fu sighed and muttered to himself:
"They are still afraid. They are afraid of future retaliation, and they worry that when I, the prince, am no longer here, everything will go back to the way it was."
"Hmph, with me here, you can't turn back!"
At this point, Liu Fu gave an instruction:
"Arrest Jin Wenhua and his entire family, along with all his servants and guards, and force them to kneel on the ground to watch Fei Zheng's execution by slow slicing!"
Liu Fu realized that the government had lost all credibility and the people no longer trusted him. If he promised to execute someone by slow slicing today but didn't, and instead changed the date, then his words were like farts, and would only make the people distrust him even more.
Therefore, even if no one comes to witness the execution, the execution by slow slicing still has to take place!
This is not just for show; it is about upholding the dignity of the laws of the Han Dynasty!
"It seems that establishing authority must be done step by step. To win the hearts of the people, we need a few honest officials to uphold justice for them!"
At this moment, the names of several upright officials suddenly came to mind: Bao Zheng, Hai Rui, Song Ci, and Di Renjie and Yuan Fang, who had solved many strange cases...
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